FOR THE BIRDS

A new wildlife experience always fills me with ecstasy, and I got one today! I was sitting on the cliffs eating my lunch and watching the whales (I know, I have a hard life...), and heard a quiet thunk behind me. Turned to find myself face to face with a HUGE Laysan Albatross just a few feet from me! These are GORGEOUS and enormous birds. It's like having a bald eagle land on your dinner table. Didn't seem interested in my lunch, but just sat there looking at me. Then another flew in and landed right by the first one, and they began the crazy fun dancing that they do. They bob in opposition, clack their bills at each other, stick their necks straight up and squeak, and shake their heads manically like we would do if we were really cold. HILARIOUS! I just stayed still, squealing quietly with delight, and they didn't seem to care that I was only a few feet away. They are spectacular up close, with the painting around their eyes like an Egyptian Goddess, and their enormous wing span of 6 FEET! They probably could have carried me off, except that they have webbed feet. Hard to grab things with.

These are remarkable birds. They spend half their life at sea, and come to land in the winter to have their chicks, and some nest on the cliffs around Larsens. So they are there every day right now, soaring magnificently, and sometimes buzzing really low over my head! During the summer they go to sea and can stay there floating around for 6 MONTHS! Apparently they have a joint in their wings they can lock in place which allows them to sleep while the air currents just carry them around. Imagine going to sleep near Hawaii and waking up by Japan! Hmmm, where am I this morning?

Flying back from a trip to Oahu just now, I went by a display in the Kauai airport about albatross including a picture of the contents of an albatross stomach from an autopsy. It showed a huge pile of human debris including cigarette lighters and glass and all forms of plastic. What looks like a beautiful mosaic at the top of this paragraph is a picture of the contents of ONE dead bird's stomach. These birds are dying because they ingest so much of our human trash and can't digest it so eventually their stomachs are full and they starve because there is no room for actual food. Wow. Our gift for the birds. And what are we doing about?

How many of you took my challenge to try and get through an entire day without throwing out any trash? And if you made it through one day did you try for more? I'd love to hear your experiences with that. One friend said when she tried it she was astounded at how many times during the day she had something in her hand about to be tossed and wondered what she could do with it besides put it in the landfill. She even started saving bottle caps that can't be recycled to be used as counters and craft items at her son's preschool. Sweet! Be creative in generating less trash! The less we throw out, the less that winds up in the stomach of a magnificent bird soaring over the ocean. We are connected more than we ever realize. We make a difference in the lives of creatures even if we never see them in person. Once you actually make the connection, it changes how you look at everything you do in your day. It ALL has consequences for some other part of Creation. The biggest challenge becomes "how can I stop harming completely?" I don't know if it is even possible in the world we have created in the last fifty years, but I'd like to see how close I can get. These creatures that are SO beautiful don't deserve what we are giving them. So please join me in seeing how close we can get to doing no harm.

Thanks for listening.